The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is excited to announce a new project and collaboration with BlinkNow, a non-profit organization founded by Maggie Doyne, an alumna of Mendham High School (where Emily also attended school). After high school Maggie traveled extensively and was overwhelmed with the number of orphans growing up in war-torn Nepal. Believing in the power of the individual, Maggie founded BlinkNow and raised the funds to create an orphanage and school for these children in need. Three years ago she built Kopila Valley Children’s Home, where she helps care for over 30 children. This year she directed the construction of a primary school which will provide for the town of Surkhet, Nepal and surrounding communities.

We have decided to partner with Maggie on her next large project – the construction of a playground for the school using recycled materials! More details to come….. stay tuned!

The Specchio Family has established and funded the Emily C. Specchio Academic Excellence Award at Montclair State University (MSU). This award will be  given to a graduate student in the American Dietetic Association Dietetic Internship program at Montclair State who demonstrates academic excellence and leadership.

This year’s scholarship was presented to Irina Ogan. Irina has her first bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rutgers University and her second in Dietetics from MSU. She also holds a Masters of Science from UMDNJ. Irina’s past experience includes working as a medical assistant and as an assistant nutrition educator at Beth Israel Medical Center. During her internship, Irina impressed many of her preceptors, one commenting that she was one of the most intelligent, motivated, & professional interns she had worked with, and showed a clear enthusiasm for learning.

Congrats Irina!

Thank you all for making this year’s “A Night with an Angel” such an astounding success. We are proud to say this was our biggest event ever with over 270 people in attendence! Visit our photos page for the event photos (or Picasa for saving/slideshow of photos) and videos page for the slideshow shown at the event (also below).

This year’s “A Night with an Angel” slideshow: a tribute to Emily and Foundation updates.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

To RSVP:

1) Either print out the below response card (click here for PDF version) and mail in with check payable to“Emily C. Specchio Foundation” to:

2) OR RSVP online by sending your name, address, phone, and email to kate@emilycspecchiofoundation.org (or through the contact page) along with the number/names of those attending and any seating requests. You may pay for the event ($100/person) online through paypal (can also click “donate” button in left column). A confirmation email will be sent for your reservation.

RSVP has been extended to April 26th! We look forward to seeing you at the event. Thank you for your generosity and for supporting The Emily C. Specchio Foundation!

What are we looking for?
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is seeking New Jersey residents aged 18-25 with a clear vision for a community outreach project to be started/completed within a year of this grant. The project can be designed to help others either domestically or internationally.

How does the Ambassador program work?
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is looking for inspired young people to embody our mission. The ambassador will clearly state to the Foundation their project goals and mission along with an estimated timeline and funds required. The Foundation will provide mentoring support to the ambassador to help set up a blog or website and fundraise for their cause. The ambassador must present their project ideas and progress at a minimum of five venues (schools, organizations, churches, etc.) in the New Jersey area including The Emily C. Specchio annual “A Night with an Angel” banquet in May 2011. The Foundation will provide funding to the ambassador for the project (minimum $1,000) and will match money raised by the Ambassador for one year 2 to 1 up to $5,000.

For more information and the 2010 application, please visit our Ambassador page.

Stay tuned for more details!

A big congratulations to this year’s selections for the Spring 2010 Emily C. Specchio Memorial Scholarship at Virginia Tech. Four winners were chosen this year from a very strong application pool, and each will receive a $1500 scholarship to help pay for their study abroad semester in the spring to Lugano, Switzerland.

Here are this year’s winners along with highlights from their resume/application:

• Emily Glotz: Marketing/Management major, Leadership minor at Virginia Tech. Committee chair of Pamplin Leadership Development Team, Volunteer at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School, Business Horizons Volunteer, Winner of Pamplin College of Business Merit Scholarship
• Nick Wells: Marketing Management major, International Business

  minor at Viginia Tech. Committee chair of G.E.R.M.A.N. Club of VPI, Relay for Life participant, Business Horizons Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity volunteer, Virginia Tech Orientation Leader.

• Kelsey Vitori: Marketing Major, Global Business/Business Leadership Minor at Virginia Tech. Hokie Ambassador, Volunteer at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School, Virginia Tech Orientation Leader, Business Horizons Hospitality Chair, Organized fundraisers for Cardiac Care for Women.
• Cory Williams: Communication Studies/Public Relations Major, Business Minor at Virginia Tech. Relay for Life Volunteer, organized fundraisers for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, volunteer at Gilbert Linkous Elementary School, Participant in the Virginia Tech Literacy Corp Pen Pal Program, Locks of Love donor, Philanthropy Board member for the Association for Women in Communications.

The Women’s Future Leadership Forum will occur on November 20th from 8:30am to 2:00pm and involves over 50 high school girls and 50 adult role models spending the day together in Murray Hill, NJ. The participating high school girls are all from Trenton, Rahway, or Linden and have all volunteered through the New Jersey Junior Achievement high school heroes program.

The high school heroes program gives high school students the opportunity to volunteer with Junior Achievement at a local elementary school to teach financial literacy and work readiness. The program is a powerful team-building experience as well as a memorable community service project for the volunteers who serve as mentors and role models to the students.

We are proud to be a part of such an amazing opportunity for these young women! Below is the day’s full itinerary:

The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is proud to announce the inaugural Emily C. Specchio Ambassadors. We started this program this year to encourage and support youth who have big ideas to make a positive impact on communities in need, whether it be local or international.

Our 2009 Ambassadors are:

• Vincent Caldas
• Timothy Mernar
• Kevin Tolentino

All three ambassadors are seniors at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City New Jersey

The winner project idea: “The Prep Micro-bank: A Student Driven Philanthropic Enterprise”

(excerpts from the winning proposal are below)

• “Students from St. Peter’s Preparatory School in conjunction with our Campus Ministry plan to give funds in the form of no-interest loans so that recipients in impoverished nations can use the principal to begin a business that will contribute to growing a local economy and to get on their own two feet.”

• “The [loan] recipients will be members of communities where Jesuit and Jersuit volunteers serve, for instance, Micronesia, Nigeria, and Ecuador. These no-interest loans will provide much needed principal for people to start their own enterprises and secure their own means of income, which they will then use to pay back the original loan. This will allow us to continue awarding these loans using only our primary investment.”

Vincent, Timothy, and Kevin will receive $1000 up-front from The Emily C. Specchio Foundation, and will additionally receive 2:1 matching funds (up to $5000 total) for speaking engagements designed to inspire youth to make a difference.